Rodriguez on Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS when Cubs fan Steve Bartman attempted to snag a foul ball that prevented Cubs left fielder Moises Alou from making the grab for the second out of the eighth inning:

“That wasn’t the game there. … Chicago fans always think that it was his fault. For us, it was great. He had a lot of trouble in Chicago and he couldn’t go on the streets, (so) we bring him to Florida. I’m not kidding. (Morgan: “Did you give him a ring?”) Yeah. He was a firefighter. They fired him from his job and all that, and I say, ‘Poor guy.’ This is a true story. What we did is contact the guy and we moved the guy to Florida. He lives in Florida right now. He works in the same job in Florida. He’s a fireman over there. We got a home for him and he lives a normal life.”

On negotiating his own deal in 1997 with Rangers team president Tom Schieffer because he didn’t want to get traded to the Yankees:

“This is the best place to play baseball. (The fans) are there every day supporting the team. That’s the reason I made my decision. For me it wasn’t a hard decision because I wasn’t going through a good time. I wasn’t focused on baseball (because of the contract). I was driving everyone crazy in my house. … I didn’t want to go (to New York). Too many yellow taxis there. I had a good home and Texas is a nice place to be. So I signed. … I think that was one of the best decisions I ever made.”

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